Monday, June 13, 2016

Relax Is The Translation

“Nothing lasts. Everything changes. But the changes are the same. Winter will always turn to spring.” ― Susan Trott

Recently I returned from a business trip to Tokyo, Japan. It was a very good trip and the time change going there rarely gives me any problem. It is upon returning that can sometimes play havoc with my internal clock.

This time was no different with two nights of well adjusted sleep and on the third night Tokyo catches up with me. Thus I was laying awake at 2:00 AM knowing well my mind was thirteen hours ahead trying to make sense of it all.

During these moments, the mind will run to many different topics of things going on in life. It ran from our kids and grandchildren to various work related projects. Yet nothing would lull me back into sleep with a calmed mind.

And then he appeared, Bill Murray.

Yes, that person from movies such as Caddy Shack, Ghostbusters and Lost In Translation. He was sitting there in present day, on a couch chatting with me. The mind was starting to go for sure.

We spoke of his movies, my grand children and the many musings this life has to offer. It was a grand conversation with humor, intrigue and general good nature.

Bill then said to me, "just relax."

It was then I realized sleep had found me. I woke the next morning from a very peaceful sleep. It also meant I had to look up quotes attributed to him and found the following quote from a 2012 interview in the New York Times.

“The more relaxed you are, the better you are at everything: the better you are with your loved ones, the better you are with your enemies, the better you are at your job, the better you are with yourself.”

It does seem odd having Bill Murray turn up in my thoughts and dreams. Mostly it occurs to me that my recent trip to Japan and the wide open circadian tricks being played upon my mind likely conjured him into my night.

But it was a good lesson for me whether directly from Bill or a random collection of brain synapses.